Powerful Customer Lifecycle Marketing Strategies

How to get customers to be even more loyal than your dog

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:58:00 +0000

Here’s a great new book on how to create a business that drives customer loyalty: “I Love You More Than my Dog: Five Decisions that Drive Extreme Customer Loyalty in Good Time and Bad” by Jeanne Bliss.

In fact, I love the book more than my cat. Ok, not really – nothing can top that kind of love (for me) – but Bliss has taken on a great topic and offers tons of great real-life examples.

The book outlines 5 decisions an organization makes that defines the company and its customer experience. I like her examples of companies that make decisions that delight customers, including Trader Joes, Lush, and Zappos. What’s fun is that some of the companies she highlights will come as a surprise – hospitals, a bicycle retailer, an e-commerce website, and more.

I really like the foundational message running through this book: “Your decisions reveal who you are and what you value.” That’s so true. Your policies, your employee training, your communications and all the action of a company either make a good experience for the customers or they don’t.

The 5 principles Jeanne outlines are:

1. Decide to believe (believing in employees, customers)

2. Decide with clarity of purpose (clear about a purpose of supporting customers’ lives)

3. Decide to be real (shed fancy packaging and be genuine)

4. Decide to be there (be there for customers on their terms)

5. Decide to say sorry

I especially love the quotes from passionate and loyal customers printed on the inside of the book jacket. That’s how the book was titled – based on an actual customer quote.

You should read the book, plus follow the author on twitter (@JeanneBliss) to get updates from the book that you can easily re-tweet and share with others.

What Would Google Do?

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:44:00 +0000

This is a great question to ask – after all, Google is the fastest growing company in the world!

However, this is more than a question -- it is a book by Jeff Jarvis.

I love this book. I’m telling everyone I know to read it.

The book cover offers a taste of the revolutionary ideas inside. The cover quote reads: “Google is not just a company, it is an entirely new way of thinking. Jarvis has done something really important: extend that approach to business and culture, revealing just how revolutionary it is.” -- Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail (a favorite book of mine).

Jarvis's book focuses on how Google approaches everything a new and fresh perspective.

What I found refreshing about Google's approach (but not revolutionary) is that they find a problem and then create a business solution for the issue. That's a refreshing change to the all-to-common approach of a company creating what it wants and then trying to keep persuading customers they should buy it.

Jarvis defines the principles of Google's ethos and then examines industries that could be transformed by thinking like Google. The industries include: media/publishers, advertising, retail, utilities, manufacturing, service, money, public welfare, public institutions, and then he outlines a few exceptions to industries that likely can’t be helped by a Google approach to business thinking.

I’d highly recommend you read this book – it’s about the revolution of business. And I think it’s fun and exciting. Check it out here on Amazon

Get a short summary of the book highlights with this short video from the author:

Make a roadmap for web 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:43:00 +0000

I like the points brought out in this article which points out that it is time for companies to embrace web 2.0 before web 3.0 arrives (not that everyone agrees on what that is yet).

The article outlines 4 elements that can make web 2.0 efforts more effective - and help in your roadmap for activity. I like their steps:

1. Listen (listening to customers, and potential customers)
2. Experiment (take small steps)
3. Apply (apply what you learn, engage with customers and make a better experience)
4. Develop (work on it, and keep on this loop)

Read the article for more details, then print, share and save a copy of this nice overview.

Customer experiences in cancelling service: Make it painless

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:32:00 +0000

Let’s use the example of switching cable/phone companies as an illustration of what to not do and what to do when a customer wants to cancel your service. (This is based on my recent experiences.)

Like many unsatisfied customers, I went searching for a new service provider and scheduled the installation. To ensure I wouldn’t experience any disruption in internet, phone, and cable service, I had Time Warner cable install my new services before I canceled the existing ones.

Then, at the end of the new service installation day, I went to ATT.com to figure out how to cancel with them. When I initially signed up for 3 services from them, I only had to dial one phone number and they did it all. To cancel, it takes 3 separate calls.

It’s too bad that nearly all companies force cancellation to be routed through phone customer service instead allowing online self-service. Most online customer service FAQs don’t even mention how to cancel. At least AT&T mentioned how to do it and listed the right phone lines to call.

Depending on your audience demographics, you may find customers willing to navigate self-service online. I’m always more than happy to help myself (which is cost efficient for the company) and get on with my life.

From a customer viewpoint, when the cancellation process is as frustrating as the service, negative word of mouth will just continue.

On the other side of the fence: from a (customer-friendly) company viewpoint, helping customers leave without a struggle isn’t a bad thing. Yes, you lose the opportunity for a last ditch effort to ‘save’ the customer, but when someone gets to the point of cancellation it is rare to save those folks and it can just make them more mad. (Also, some people will call and cancel due to the cost or other financial reasons, and they don’t want to feel embarrassed to have to state the reason they are leaving to a live customer service agent).

It was too late for AT&T to ‘save’ me as a customer even weeks before I switched as they had already sent out two engineers to try and fix my intermittent internet connection with no success – and no follow-up or follow through. One engineer left his card and said to call if there were further problems but he didn’t respond to our message about the persistent problem. (I did get a tweet from an agent right before I switched services -- it was too late then.) When I finally called AT&T, I was already using their competitor’s services.

This is an example to illustrate that at the point of cancellation, don’t fight customers, just thank them for staying as long as they did and, if you like, you can say you’d like the chance to service them again in the future. Leave things on a positive note – it will help on all fronts.

Your website keywords don't help you show up in Google

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:08:00 +0000

This is good to know, I was about to work on filling in keywords on a new site I just launched. Sounds like metatag keywords don't help you get found in Google (for the naturalized, or unpaid search results). But meta descriptions are a good thing to fill in. Check out this video and spread the word.

Enough is enough, AT&T, it’s time say goodbye

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:05:00 +0000

You may have read my past blogs about my bad customer experiences with AT&T (read a recent blog on this topic). I have blogged, twittered and called them too many times. They have sent 2 technicians to my home and still problems persist (our supposed high-speed internet service cuts out multiple times per day) and they continue to send weekly spam about their U-verse product.

And now I’m done with AT&T. If I can’t get reliable service and they can’t treat me like a person instead of a robot who loves spam, then this just isn’t a good match. After a mailing from the competition, I’m finally switching to Time Warner Cable. Right now, they are my savior. They have an extra glow around them because they are my answer to getting rid of AT&T. We’ll see how they hold up to my expectations.

While I don’t want to imagine Time Warner Cable as anything but perfect right now, it is going to take 2-3 weeks from the time I placed my order until I get their service (lame) and I will have to endure a 4 hour in-home set up so that the phone, internet and cable package works right. But I’d rather have that than AT&T right now, so it’s fine.

Key lessons for AT&T to learn here:

Look at your outbound marketing efforts and how many times each week and each month your customer will get your messages. This is a key factor of customer engagement, customer-experience management and marketing today – also known as lifecycle marketing. I was talking with a company a few weeks ago about how many emails one customer could get in a week. They told me it was a very high number. Look at your marketing from a customer viewpoint – imagine how many times they will hear from you. If you send more than one message per month that is likely too much unless your product happens to be highly important to someone’s life.
On a related note: Stop with the U-verse spam. I get weekly mail on this topic, every time I log into their website they push the ads in front of my path, and they call me at least a few times a month. During the last call, I told the fellow that AT&T was so bad that I was leaving them (even though he was a personable telemarketer). Everyone I know is getting overwhelmed by this product and its incessant promotion.
Clarity of communication and follow through is important when customers have service problems. After the technician visits the customer’s house, there should be clear resolution or definition of follow-up of what the customer should do if the issue is not resolved. Because of lack of clarity and resolution, AT&T had to send a second technician to our home (a cost for them) and the issue is still unresolved.

This is the experience of a long-time customer. I know that means little to a company so big – and that’s why customers are frustrated, why they post blogs like this one. and why they tell friends to avoid the companies that make their lives more difficult.

In contrast, some large companies do get it. When I had a negative experience with the Amica insurance company and blogged about it, they called me to try to resolve the issue. Now that is great customer service – and it’s the reason I’m staying with them – they care.

Video: Social Media Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:28:00 +0000

This is a great video with key stats on the growth and ubiquity of social media.

It's worth watching the whole 4 minutes and 23 seconds - trust me.

Social media resources

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:40:00 +0000

I'm enjoying these social media resources and wanted to share them with you.

http://mashable.com
http://www.socialmediatoday.com
http://techzulu.com

Many of the best articles I read every week are from these sources. Check them out and follow them on Twitter - you'll be glad you did.

An awesome customer service story

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:44:00 +0000

Guest blogger: Mimi Grant, of ABL (Adaptive Business Leaders) wrote (her blog, her company) this super customer service story about Southwest Airlines. Enjoy.

I’m not ashamed to admit it: I love SWA. The other day, “commuting” back to Orange County from the Bay Area, I was reflecting on how Southwest Airlines has increasingly deployed technology to make flying better, faster and cheaper than any of its competitors. My day began, simply enough, on the 6:45 am flight from John Wayne to San Jose, and I had planned to return that evening on the 5:15 pm flight from Oakland.

But this is how technology made all the difference: When my Friday afternoon meeting concluded earlier than I originally dreamed possible, I walked out to my rental car, voice-dialing Southwest reservations (“800-I FLY SWA”). Their message informed me that there would be an eight -minute wait, but that they could return my call to my cell phone, which would call me back after those same eight minutes. Already southbound on the 80, eight minutes later, as promised, another “tele-avatar” called me back to confirm I was on the line and available to speak to a real person. Assuring “her” I was ready, I was connected to Kathy.

In my haste to get to the airport, I’d left my pre-printed boarding pass (with my confirmation number on it) in the back seat, and now that I was driving, I couldn’t reach it. But Kathy patiently triangulated who I was with my name and flight information. Once she figured out that I was booked on a later flight (and how much I’d paid for my ticket), she went to work seeing if she could get me on the flight that would be leaving two hours earlier. Since the telephone reservation system shuts down 30 minutes before departure, she worked with seconds to spare. But, just in time, she booked my ticket, and charged me the extra $32.

By then I was about two miles from the airport, but still needed to return my rental car. Thanks to Budget’s handheld receipt printers, I was on the Rental Car shuttle within just a few minutes after cruising into OAK’s Rental Return lot. At the Terminal, I bee-lined for the check-in kiosk and punched in my six-digit confirmation number (from the old boarding pass, which Kathy had transferred to the new flight). Bingo! In 30 seconds I had my new boarding pass. Next stop: the “A line” – because of my A List status, I have a special card I can flash (better than the Clear card, because it doesn’t require biometric ID confirmation, which always used to slow me down) so I can zip through security lines (this alone saved me about an hour a couple of weeks ago at SFO).

By the time I arrived at Gate 26 they were already boarding the flight (Southwest has the best on-time record). But I easily stepped into my “B30” slot – which meant 89 people got to pick their seats first. (If I had booked or changed my reservation 24 hours earlier, I would have been guaranteed “A” seating – one of the first 60 seats. And, had I pounced on printing out my boarding pass 24 hours earlier, no doubt I’d have a very low number - sometimes as low as A16 – now that Southwest is selling “Business Select” seats at a premium, A1-15 are always unavailable.)

Once airborne, as I settled into my peanuts, I looked around and realized I was surrounded by people tethered to technology: Kindles, iPods and computers – working, watching movies, or playing games. Now all we need is for Southwest to get beyond the “trial’ they’ve been running with Row 44 to test a new broadband, high-speed satellite-delivered Internet access service, and make the service available to their commuters. Since apparently they plan to charge extra for this service, maybe I’ll even be able to trade in some of my growing stack of free drink coupons for an hour on the Internet. Now that would be something to drink to!

Study shows: Social media efforts really pay off $$

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:30:00 +0000

Here is a great study showing the connection between company social media engagement and a real financial result. I love the finding, because it supports the power of engagement, of real two-day dialogue and engagement with consumers.

The study reveals:
“…companies who measured as having "the greatest breadth and depth of social media engagement" grew revenues by 18% over the last year, while the companies that were the least engaged dropped 6% on average.”

The study included 100 top brands and included media channels as Twitter, wikis, blog and discussion forums.

The top 10 brands in this list of 100 are:
1. Starbucks
2. Dell
3. eBay
4. Google
5. Microsoft
6. Thomson Reuters
7. Nike
8. Amazon
9. SAP
10. Yahoo!/Intel (Tie)

According to study, the success factor here is having dedicated teams to stay active in the social media. So, folks… it pays to have a team working full time on engaging with customers via social media. Even if that team is one person – because, of course, the less distracted someone is (by non social media work), the more they can make a real impact online.

Two other items of note from the study include:

“...the most successful teams evangelize social media across the entire organization to pull in a broad range of stakeholders.”

“These companies view social media as an indispensable tool to help them achieve results, and their approach is conversational.”

This study offers great insight into the power of relationship building and social media as a powerful platform for engagement.

Bad service drives customers away from purchasing

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:16:00 +0000

Here are is a very interesting point about the power of negative customer service (from a study of companies based in Australia, New Zealand, and India).

"... in most cases the individual will turn to a competitor for the business, in over 30% of instances the consumer simply decides not to spend any money – a decision the survey said potentially undermined local economies."

You don't often see this point brought out in surveys; it could well be an indicator of the current state of business and the world economies.

I'm sharing this here as a reminder to the large power of negative customer experiences. Yes, they can drive consumers to your competition and even worse, drive them away from the category, service, or product entirely. I'm thinking it won't be easy to win those customers back - even harder than winning them from a competitor. Just some good for thought.

The survey also revealed the main reasons for poor service. No surprise here, "Respondents to the survey said some of their key annoyances are automated, difficult to navigate, self-service programs that don’t let them reach a human agent, along with working with agents who are not empowered to make decisions, and having to repeat information – such as name and account number – every time their call is forwarded to another department."

View my other blogs at www.kimproctor.com.

Customer dialogue supports retention

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:57:00 +0000

Take a look at these interesting survey results about the connection between customer feedback/dialogue and how it powers better decision making. (The study was conducted by from Aberdeen Group and Empathica Partners.)

As a reader of this blog, you know I’m an advocate of a two-way dialogue between a business and their customers, and how that dialogue and responsiveness can grow retention.

I appreciated how this study underscores the connection between companies that offer top-notch service and customer retention (and growing customer value). I find this same connection in many companies myself.

Here are a few topline notes of interest:
“Based on the analysis of 150 enterprises, the findings indicate that Best-in-Class companies for customer feedback are 18 times more likely to increase customer satisfaction, and 44.5 times more likely to increase customer retention.

Best-in-Class organizations reaped benefits from customer feedback management programs. The leading companies were more than twice as likely as their counterparts to have an established process that tracks customer feedback across all departments and channels. As such, these Best-in-Class companies are 18 times more likely to increase customer satisfaction, and 44.5 times more likely to increase customer retention.”

View my other blogs at www.kimproctor.com.

Video: the power of social networks and word of mouth

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 19:20:00 +0000

Check out this 2 minute video; it is a great overview of the power of social networks and word of mouth.

Customer service & experience continues to languish

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:34:00 +0000

I yearn for a time when companies see the value of investing in the customer experience and top service. When I see it I cherish it, I revel in it –yes, I’m this obsessed. Why don’t more companies at least try to copy the successful strategies of Southwest Airlines or Zappos? They are open about what they are doing; you can experience it as a customer; you can read about it as a professional.

Experiences as of late that I love:

There are a few gals at the check out at my local CVS pharmacy that are just a delight. They are kind and friendly in such a genuine way, they make me smile. I’ve rarely met such delightful people in retail.
I love interacting with companies in a whole new way on Twitter. Here are a few examples:
My local bakeries @susinabakery and @kissmybundt offer fun updates about flavors of baked goods they are offering each day and more. It too, makes me smile.
I love that the CEO of Zappos (a company I adore from a customer perspective and from a customer-focused consulting perspective) replies to my tweets, read my blog, and took the time to tell me he likes it! Awesome. Plus, Zappos exceeded my expectation by upgrading shipping on my recent order so that it arrived in less than 24 hours after I ordered it.

A recent painful customer experience:

Bank of America is making my life more difficult and that is never a good thing if you want positive word of mouth and retention. BofA makes things unnecessarily complex. They allow customers to create new accounts online (ok, that is good) but you can’t gain access to those accounts easily, you can’t access online bill pay from those accounts without requesting it, and you don’t get an ATM PIN unless you request it. So painful. Then I moved to California and because it’s a different system for them, I have to give up my old accounts and change all my autopayments on bills to go to a new CA account. Painful. This shouldn’t be a burden to the customer. And the list goes on with them, don’t get me started.

If you have any positive experiences or stories, please feel free to share them via the comment feature below.

Score one for Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:35:00 +0000

Video more engaging on Twitter than Facebook or Digg

According to a recent story, "Twitter users watching online video via the microblogging site keep their eyes glued to their computer screen for longer than those using Facebook or Digg, says TubeMogul." Read the rest of the story.

I'm a fan of Twitter, I really like it, and appreciate when I see some positive press for the social networking tool. Too often, the conversation about Twitter has been negative. I think Twitter is a great tool for business, for amazingly fast viral sharing, for reading and finding great content, and more. Let me know what you think by commenting below.

Employees & social media: 5 options

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Here's an interesting overview of the 5 options companies have for employee engagement with social media (or how a company can let it's employees use social media). Thought you'd like to see this article.

This is helpful for considering which option best fits your company.

Read my other blogs on www.kimproctor.com.

Starbucks’s tactic to drive repeat sales

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Perhaps have seen the latest Starbucks offer (it prints out on your receipt if you visit Starbucks in the morning). If you buy something before 2pm in-store, you can return after 2pm to buy any type of medium iced drink for $2.

This can be a fairly compelling offer, so I stopped to think about what they are getting from this deal and how customers benefit. Here is what I’ve come up with (if you have other comments, please add them below).

Customers get:

To return and try any drink at a reasonable cost – including a more expensive drink that perhaps they haven’t tried before (let’s say a Caramel Frappacino, which is nearly $4 in LA).
They can share the coupon with someone else – either way, Starbucks might get an extra sale in that day that perhaps they might not have gotten otherwise. (For example, I give the coupon to my husband – he’s the coffee drinker of the family.)

Starbucks gets:

Repeat or additional sales in one day (from the same customer or someone they share the coupon with).
They might be able to build an appetite for 2 drinks per day from 1 customer (let’s say a morning coffee and an afternoon iced drink). When Dunkin’ Donuts was a client of mine, they were always trying to come up with ways to get folks into their stores for afternoon drinks/snacks in addition to the morning coffee run – that is why they branched into cookies and more drinks, smoothies, etc.
While offering customers the chance to sample a more expensive drink, they might “help” customers see how much they prefer the more expensive option or would like to have that higher-price drink more frequently.

Keep in mind, McDonalds is pushing very hard on the coffee drink space right now – I’ve seen many outdoor ads in LA, plus many online ads too. Often, those ads mention the price of a small coffee drink to drive first-time trials. So perhaps this offer is a way Starbucks is trying to keep some of their existing business and/or grow it a bit. (Note, I have seen this promotion through Starbucks before – maybe it was last summer – so it’s not new, but the timing is interesting given the big McCafe push.)

Comments? Other angles? Have you seen other offers that drive trial? Comment below.

Tool to measure use of social media

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:55:00 +0000

You may have read the book, "Groundswell". It's a good overview of the world of social media and open-customer dialogue we live in now. If you haven't read it, pick up a copy. It offers some good ideas and many helpful ways to think through social media.

Anyhow, I want to point out a helpful tool they have made available. The tool below helps you get a general sense of your audience and how they use social media in various ways. You pick the age and gender specifications and it will show you what types of social activities they engage with online. See the cool research widget below. To get started, click the "Build profile now" button.

How social media supports your business

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:27:00 +0000

Take a look at a few slides I put together that outline the various business activities that are supported by social media. The activities supported include: content monitoring, customer service, decision making, content creation & distribution and more.

Social media supports your business

View more documents from Customers That Click.

Praise where praise is due

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 04:39:00 +0000

A friend of mine sent along an email he got from FinancialTimes.com. He is a subscriber of FT.com and he was impressed enough to send this to me, and I’m impressed enough to share it with you.

This is an example of the way to communicate to customers when you care about developing long-term relationships. This email tells their customers that they matter.

I love this email so much I’m including it in its entirety below. Use this email as a model for your customer communications. Let your customers know when changes are coming and when and how they will be affected.

Dear FT.com user

Over the next week we will be undertaking some essential maintenance work on FT.com.

The work is part of our on-going efforts to improve the performance of the site and make it easier for you to find what you're looking for quickly and easily.
Naturally, we will do everything we can to minimize the impact on the site and we hope you won't notice a thing. However, on Saturday, 6 June you may find that access to some services is disrupted.

Rest assured that we are working hard to have the site functioning normally as soon as possible, but please feel free to call us with any questions or unexpected difficulties.

Email: help@ft.com

US & Canada: 1 800 628 8088
Asia: +852 2905 5555
UK, Europe & Rest of World: +44 (0) 20 7775 6248

Sincerely

FT Customer Service
www.ft.com

Financial Times, 1330 Avenue of the Americas, New York NY 10019

Social media case study/ growing conference attendance

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:23:00 +0000

Learn from this example of how to grow conference attendance by giving registered attendees extra value with social networking tools.

Read this case study of leveraging social media as a conference benefit/ value.

ps. This case study highlights the Ning social networking platform. The conference in this study was the Southern California Business Growth Conference put on by LAVA and the Harvard Business School Association of Orange County (CA).

Learn from these Internet Marketing Case Studies

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Here are 3 case studies about successfully growing web traffic, the viral marketing effect, revenue and actionable customer feedback. Click on the case study links below to learn more.

Email newsletter increases web traffic & revenue

Growing internet traffic by enabling your content to be viral

Capturing usable customer feedback with online surveys

The ‘broken window’ problem

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:22:00 +0000

No doubt you’ve seen a building with broken windows. This is often due to neglect or vandalism and it is a clear message that "no one cares."

What signals does a company give off that sends the same message? Frankly, too many to list here, but last week a company reminded me of a few of those indicators of not caring.

EZ Lube is a chain of oil change shops here in LA (and possible elsewhere). Here is how I experienced their "we don’t care" message:

- A dirty outside waiting area (tables/chairs). Other customers commented on it.
- Very slow service. 45 minutes for a ‘quick oil change’ service isn’t meeting expectation.
- There were no communications about the delays in their service. (Neither when I arrived, nor after I inquired about the delay while they were working on my car – in a very slow and unfocused way).
- They didn’t vacuum my car (part of the paid-for service) and when I brought it up they didn’t really care.
- Lastly, an email I sent to the manager (his card was on the desk as I was paying so I figured I’d let him know about the problems I encountered) went completely unanswered. If you don’t plan on responding or talking with customers, there is no point to making business cards available.

Take stock of the signals you send your customers. Reminder: You can google your company name, search twitter for mentions of your company, or just talk to your customers. They are often happy to tell you what you can do better. And that is a gift – it’s better to get constructive feedback than never to hear it (and have it affect your business).

Awesome customer service

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:52:00 +0000

I just came across this awesome customer service chat transcript from Zappos. What I love is how helpful and fun the customer service rep is - they are willing to serve, help, offer a free upgrade and have fun. God bless 'em.

Read the customer service chat transcript here.

The value of treating customers like kings

noreply@blogger.com (Kim Proctor) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:47:00 +0000

"I get excited when I hear how companies reward existing customers rather than only courting new customers with perks, discounts or special treatment."

Read more from this blog here.